Downtown Portland student housing project resurrected

A downtown student housing complex previously proposed by Opus Northwest is resurfacing through a partnership between Capacity Commercial Group and Dallas-based developer Phoenix Development Co. Project developer Brian Owendoff of Capacity Commercial thinks the project will help meet the growing demand for student housing around Portland State University. (Rendering courtesy of Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects)

Previously derailed plans for a large student housing project on Southwest Jefferson Street are resurfacing with the help of a new developer.

Opus Northwest originally proposed the 18-story, 380-unit high-rise building in 2008, but the project stalled when the company went bankrupt and left Portland in 2010. Now, Capacity Commercial Group, which partnered with Opus on the project’s original proposal, is trying again, this time with Dallas-based developer Phoenix Development Co.

Capacity decided to take another shot at the project because of the rising enrollment of nearby Portland State University, said Brian Owendoff, Capacity’s senior vice president. The school currently has close to 30,000 students, the most out of any university in the state. By 2030, that number is expected to inflate to 50,000.

“What is continuing to happen is there is demand for well located, purposed-built housing for PSU students,” he said. “(This is) will provide that much-needed housing.”

Capacity chose Phoenix Development because of the latter company’s success with developing student housing projects in the past, Owendoff said. Additionally, the company has access to large sources of public and private capital, which would be useful in developing a project that could cost upward of $50 million, he said.

The unit prices would be on the high end of the student housing scale, which means most of the students living in the building would be upper classmen or graduate students, Owendoff said.

Those students would be in close proximity to both the streetcar and campus, which is three blocks away from the project’s proposed 16,860-square-foot site, located between Southwest 11th and 12th streets.

Even with higher rents, Owendoff thinks the building would address the needs of PSU students looking for housing. The Ladd Tower, a project Owendoff helped develop in the area in 2009 when he worked at Opus Northwest, has succeeded despite the lofty prices of its units, he said.

“This project provides another price point in the market,” he said. “On a price-per-bid basis, we will be very competitive with newer-constructed, purpose-built housing.”

Project officials believe the building would also benefit the Central Business District, as well as the city as a whole. By adding 450 students to the area, local businesses could see a noticeable increase in foot traffic.

The project’s site is currently owned by the Portland Housing Bureau, which is selling the property to finalize a deal it inherited from the Portland Development Commission. Once the property is sold to Capacity Commercial Group, the PHB will use the money toward affordable housing projects in the downtown area, according to PHB officials.

The site’s small size could present construction challenges, according to Steve Poland, principal at Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects, which designed the project.

“We’ve got a 250-foot-long block line with adjacent buildings that are very close,” Poland said. “Getting the plan to work with that close of a proximity to buildings is the primary challenge.”

The hard work on the project’s design isn’t over yet, Poland added. It’s still early in the design phase and the project has yet to undergo review by the city’s design commission. As a result, the biggest challenges may still lie ahead, he said.

If the project continues to move through the design process, construction is set to begin in January 2013 and finish by the beginning of the 2014 school year.

The city is not pitching in to build student housing for PSU. There is no public subsidy for this project. The DJC reporter got it wrong and has corrected the mistake. Note the paragraph you cite has been removed.

The truth is that the old PDC cut this deal years ago and Portland Housing Bureau inherited the property and the development agreement when the city and PDC merged housing functions. PHB is now simply completing an old deal under contract. It is not a deal the city would have made today.

The Portland Housing Bureau is selling the land under an old contract — not giving it away — and will use the money to build homes that are affordable for people of low and modest income in Portland.

“The unit prices would be on the high end of the student housing scale, which means most of the students living in the building would be upper classmen or graduate students, Owendoff said….”

More like most of the residents will be wealthy out-of-state and foreign students. Heaven forbid greedy investors come up with something at the lower end of the housing scale, where the greatest need lies. Yet another example of a college education slipping out of the hands of the American middle class.

As a nearby condo owner, i must ask, where is the parking? The planssent to nearby property owners do not indicate any parking in the building. Whie we welcome an influx of students, the plan should not be approved without parking.

I agree the current design will easily create a canyon like feeling on Jefferson . Surely creativite design could and should be utilized.

“The project’s site is currently owned by the Portland Housing Bureau. Earlier this year, Commissioner Nick Fish said the PHB would negotiate with developers of student housing projects within the URA to potentially add affordable housing units to their projects. However, even though Capacity Commercial will be acquiring the site from the housing bureau, there have been no talks about adding affordable housing units, Owendoff said.”

This is the real story. Even after the O ran its huge series on affordable housing, you have the Housing Bureau commissioner just giving away a site without any conditions that it serve the bureau’s mission. Is this even legal?